Trying to plan my best friends wedding

It will be extremely hard to pull off a wedding for that budget. Does she have a nice big back yard or belong to a church that will let her use it as a venue?

It is definitely possible. You can find a cheap venue first by considering things like a community hall or if you’re part of a church or a local park. But after the cost of the venue you might not be left with that much for a reception so you might want to consider only hosting some thing like appetizers or cake and punch afterwards.

I would look for a park or somewhere outdoors (maybe one that has a pavilion?) that is either way low cost or free to reserve for the ceremony/reception. Or, is it possible to host it in someone's backyard (if they have a large property)? I think the largest cost will probably be food/beverages, so maybe start researching catering options to figure out cost, and see how much is left over for the remaining expenses. If the cost of her dress is included in that budget, check online for either gently used or new-with-tags dresses that someone may have changed their mind on - you can often find a good deal. Are you planning on booking a photographer or DJ? If so, research your options in your area, you might be able to find ones within budget, or if you have a family member/friend who is skilled in one of those areas, check to see if they're willing to help out. A student photographer from a local college might also be within budget.

Also - I agree with Melle: appetizers or a cake and punch reception would help save a lot of money! If you do go this route, I suggest hosting the reception in between meal times (maybe around 2pm?). Otherwise, if it's around a normal meal time, people might anticipate a full meal being provided.

People get married on strict budgets everyday. It just takes creativity.

What are the priorities? Good food/drink/entertainment that guests will remember? Photography? Make a list of top 3-5 things and skip the rest.
DC is expensive and you add "wedding" on top of that and you probably wouldn't want to know the price, so you have to think outside the box as much as you can.
Check Peerspace.com for venues. A middle of the week off-season will be least expensive but not feasible for most so keep it lowkey on the weekend.
Have a favorite restaurant cater. They do this all the time without the wedding markup.
Use fiftyflowers.com if florals are a priority.
A dj is less expensive than a band.
Invites from Vistaprint with coupon.

As someone who plans many events, that is definitely a very tight budget. I'd look at finding a moose lodge or something similar if you're wanting to hold the reception indoors or look a park. As for meals check out ezcater.com the website may be able to help you meal options at a budget rate. Does the $2000 include her wedding clothing or is that just the ceremony, flowers, reception?

With 75 people, A $2k budget is going to be tight. The easiest way to do a very small budget is usually to cut the guest list. You ‘lo have to prioritize where to spend every penny and definitely get creative. I agree to look at a cake and punch, maybe appetizers for reception. Even the cheapest meal options we looked at were $15/per person.
For comparison, we are having 50 people and our budget is $5-6k. Our ceremony site is free and our reception space is $300, howeverWith non traditional ceremony sites you also have to think about rentals and chairs are costing us about $180. I bought a sample dress on sale for $200, but my alterations are $420 for hem, bustle, and changing the back to a corset versus taking it in. Photography varies significantly based on location, so that’s impossible to compare.
I’ve done a lot of diy projects, but that can add up so definitely keep an eye out for coupons and sales. Other resource I’ve used are Craigslist, our local Facebook wedding group, and Facebook marketplace. I found a cake knife and server for $6, and I constantly see people post decor (sometimes trying to make back everything they spent so not necessarily a cheaper option). I also found an adorable dress at a local thrift store that I’m still contemplating, and that’s where I picked up Frames and candle holders for decor.

Whooo, this will be tricky with 75 people, but with a lot of research and creativity you can likely pull it off! I think you're probably looking at a majority DIY wedding with this budget. In exchange for savings, DIY takes a lot of time that goes into researching, creating and coordinating. Planning a wedding is a big ask so know that you might be in for more work than you bargained for.

Hopefully her expectations match the budget! You may have to draw up a few example events that prioritize different elements - photography, food, venue - so she starts to get an idea of how much things cost. I know my fiance and I went through sticker shock and started to adjust our budget upwards the more we researched. $4000 seemed reasonable until I started researching.

For invites, make a wedding website and distribute among the guests. Don't spend money on paper invitations/save the dates. It isn't as traditional to go virtual, but it's easy for guests to RSVP and bookmark to look back on. A couple guests, like Granny, might not be able to navigate the online option but she can work with other family members to RSVP and keep track of details.

Definitely try for park/city locations because the rental fees are lower. Outdoor spaces like a picnic gazebo are generally cheaper too. I tend to think beautiful outdoor spots need less decoration (one less thing to spend money on!) than empty indoor spaces. Some of the "boring but necessary" items like chair rentals can eat up a budget like this so you'll have to think about eliminating the need for that.

For the food, consider just going with finger foods for a standing cocktail-hour snack reception that wouldn't require everyone have a chair and space to sit. Costco has some good finger foods, grab plates, utenstils and drinks there too. Trader Joes too. Costco's half sheet cakes are affordable and actually really good too. Serving utenstils can be brought from home, thrifted, or found at the dollar store. Some catering options come with all this but even cheap options might be too much money for 75 people.

Flowers - just grab some bouquets from the grocery store and break them up. Greenery is also cheaper than flowers for decorating larger areas like tables. Thrift some vases - if the theme allows room for coordinating but not matchy-matchy items that will be better. The dollar store will be your friend as well - maybe a few frames with pictures of their relationship or some candle votives.

Keep drink options down to a minimim to keep costs down too. Maybe two types of beer. Two types of soda. If there's still room in the budget to get fancy - an italian soda station with sparkling water, some Torani syrups and whipped cream?

Lawn games can me made or rented for pretty cheap entertainment.

For music - Borrow a good wireless speaker or speakers from some friends (or buy as their wedding gift!), pay for a Spotify/Apple Music/Pandora subsciption and then either build a playlist or stream a pre-built wedding playlist. Assign someone to make sure the music keeps playing, skip any weird songs, and play the first dance songs at the right time.

If her dress is included in that budget - Lulu's has many options under $100, $200 and a good return policy. Don't go into bridal shops because most will eat up at least 1/4 of the budget (David's Bridal is probably the exception to this but it still requires hunting for the cheaper dresses). The online shops like StillWhite are awesome but have limited return options so it's risky.

Have a few DIY hair and makeup trials among friends to perfect the looks and save money on that.

Photographers alone can eat up a good portion of this budget too - even an extremely cheap one. If she's willing to forego the full professional experience, you could pick the most photographically inclined friend to snap the ceremony, family photos and then just rely on guests to take photos and post to their #hashtag.

The minister or officiant can be expensive too, so see if her church provides one for free or have a close friend of her choosing get ordained online (many free options), make sure to check the rules in DC to see if they need to register.

At the end, some of the purchases can be resold too! Might take a bit but if saving is a priority might be worth the extra effort.

Alcohol will eat up your budget fast so look into nonalcoholic options. Flavored lemonades, sweet tea, etc.

Thinking just about the cost of things in DC compared to other surrounding areas is a little daunting.
I would definitely utilize the vendors tool on here to help you search for the vendors by price, but even then it might be tricky.

My fiancé and I are getting married in Williamsburg and after looking at several venues around the Hampton Roads area, we realized that we weren’t going to get out of this as inexpensively as we wanted. Our venue includes everything - ceremony space, reception space, catering, alcohol, linens, getting ready areas, 5 hours of event time, serving staff and gratuity included and going with the middle tier buffet was still $178 per person. With a 60 person guest list that came out to over 10k before we did anything else. And the venue requires a professional DOC so we had to shell out another 1250 that we hadn’t planned for. Definitely do your research, read over everything carefully, and if you can do a week day that would help lower the cost.

$2000 for 75 people is only $26 per person. That’s probably doable for inexpensive catering, but if she’s trying to get a venue, catering, photographer, officiant, florals, etc with that $2000, I think she’s going to be struggling. I’d say to find a nice park and do a cake and punch reception or severely cut the guest list.

View Quoted Comment For this budget, I’m not even sure standard vendors are a viable option. The site isn’t a bad place to start research but I think pulling this off will require thinking very out of the box and reaching out to places that wouldn’t maintain a presence on a site like this.


For example, the local taco truck, a city park on a lake, or a hobby photographer in your neighborhood wouldn’t advertise here.

There's a thread right now called "Budget weddings you have attended" that might be helpful for ideas!

View Quoted Comment I’ve also seen people recommend reaching out to local photography schools to see if students would be willing to do photos since they need them for their portfolio and would be substantially cheaper.
Also, try to avoid using the word wedding when shopping around. Like you can get cakes and cupcakes for an event much cheaper than a wedding.

You may need to have a heart-to-heart reality check with her. Having a wedding for under 2k is going to be a challenge let alone for 75 guests. I honestly don’t know how it can be done. With just having a ceremony in the park with our parents, it’s costing us almost 2k for everything. Our bigger celebration which is only 25-30 guests is going to be around 10k. I would start by finding out from her what her expectations are, what is most important and go from there to see what can be done.

Why isn’t she planning her own wedding?

I don't think it is impossible, but it is going to be very difficult. $2000 for 75 guests is roughly $26 per person. As far as I know, DC is very expensive. Venue is one of the most expensive cost. I would start with venue, with this budget, she can have it at home in her backyard. Check out local park and see how much it costs. Replace DJ with a bluetooth speaker, photographer with guests' cellphones, flowers with dollar tree fake flowers, cake from like Giant. I mean she can even consider a pot luck, ask everyone to bring their own food and share.

My sister had a $3500 wedding in CA a few years ago. She prioritized what was important. She wanted great photos, so photographer is what she splurged on. Her ceremony/reception was around 1/2 PM and she just served appetizers and cake. No favors, simple centerpieces. No DJ just made a playlist and had my brother change to specific songs. We had a friend with an orange grove as a backyard,etc... just be creative, use any connections you have. It’s possible but very very tight.

Ouch! That’s a very tight budget.


The most important thing is to first find out what her vision is. Knowing what she wants well help you come up with a plan and avoid the possibility of ruining a friendship. More than likely what she wants is going to exceed the budget she initially quoted you. Then do some research on what her vision will cost and then explain it to her.
If the budget doesn’t change I’d look into parks (some might even have picnic tables you can use) make it a cocktail reception with cake and make sure the invitations state that it’s a cocktail reception. For decor use chiffon runners, mason jars, votives and clear Christmas lights you can look into more inexpensive flowers like carnations or daisies.